There are various situations where components of some kind must be attached to a substrate. Screws are often used for this purpose, especially in cases where the components may need to be removed and/or replaced in the field. For example, telephone systems, cable television systems and the like typically include junction box enclosures which house components, such as chokes, switches, filters, terminal connectors, junction blocks, and the like. Service personnel occasionally need to remove and replace these components in the course of maintaining or upgrading the system.
A junction box enclosure may be equipped with threaded holes for holding components intended to be housed in the enclosure. A problem is that it is expensive to fabricate threaded holes. Another problem is that a junction box enclosure manufactured with threaded holes in specific locations to accommodate one set of components is not readily adapted in the field to accommodate a different arrangement of components or to accommodate replacement components having mounting holes in positions different from those of a component being replaced.
A junction box enclosure may be fabricated from a relatively soft material, such as wood for example, so that screws for holding components can be driven directly into the body of the enclosure. A drawback of this approach is that wood can rot, is flammable, and has other characteristics making it undesirable for use in many situations. Another drawback with this approach is that a large number of holes in the body of the junction box enclosure tend to weaken or destroy the structural integrity of the enclosure. Furthermore, it may be difficult to reposition a component so that its mounting screws will be close to, but not in the same place, as existing holes.
Another possible way in which fasteners may be used to mount a component in a junction box enclosure involves providing preformed holes at a plurality of locations in the body of the enclosure and screwing screws into appropriate ones of the preformed holes to mount the component. This approach lacks flexibility. The component can only be mounted at locations corresponding to the locations of the preformed holes.
It would be desirable to provide a mechanism for fastening components in place which is flexible, can be provided in a cost effective manner, and avoids or ameliorates at least some of the disadvantages of existing fastening mechanisms.